This winter The Cherry Arts presents Rule of Thumb, continuing the company's mission to introduce vital international theatrical voices to the English-speaking world. Rule of Thumb is written by Berlin-based Serbian playwright and screenwriter Iva Brdar, translated into English by her sister, writer Ana Brdar. The play tells the hilarious and thought-provoking story of Ana and Monika, two enthusiastic young Swedish women who enter a hitchhiking contest and find themselves taking a series of peculiar, delightful, and unsettling car rides through the borderlands of Serbia and Bulgaria. With quirky humor and tremendous heart, Rule of Thumb explores themes of class and cultural divide, as well as pressing questions of economic and refugee migration from both global and local perspectives.

Rule of Thumb is a shortlisted play for European playwriting competitions based in Germany and the UK; in April of this year, the play will receive its European première in German at the Schauspiel Stuttgart. The upcoming Cherry Arts' production will mark the play's world première. The Cherry production stars Erica Steinhagen and Darcy Rose, and is directed by Beth F. Milles. Other cast members include Lawrence Bierria, Jeff Guyton, Craig McDonald, Sarah Chalmers Simmons, and Jacob White.

Director Milles says, "Rule of Thumb is a dynamic journey from start to finish—the play crosses borders and boundaries, spanning time and perceptions with delight and an impish curiosity—Brdar's play is a poetic treatise and a ruthless exploration of expedition and the desire to expand one's horizons."

On Wednesday Mar 7, the week after the world premiere run at the Cherry, the production will travel to New York City as part of New York-based Voyage Theater Company's Parts Unknown reading series, sponsored by the New York Public Library. There the Cherry team will recreate the performance as a reading, at the NYPL 53rd Street branch next to the Museum of Modern Art